business tips Archives - Her Business Directory™

Introverts vs. Extroverts: finding the ideal workspace

Ebuyer has teamed up with Myers-Brigg Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner Shauna Skinner² to consult on the best office set-up for each personality type

The biggest differences can be seen between introverts and extroverts

With searches for ‘working from home remotely’ increased by +231%1 over the past year, it is clear that the ability to work from home is a massive plus for most people. But how do different employees prefer to work and in what environment would an introvert vs. an extrovert thrive? To find out, Ebuyer has teamed up with Meyers-Briggs practitioner Shauna Skinner2 to take a look at what kind of workspace works best for different personalities and what elements a home office or a traditional office should include so that workers can feel at ease.

Extroverts

Overall, extroverts are, compared to introverts, more outgoing and need to be able to connect with people to be stimulated. An office…

How to Network Like an Expert

You know it’s critical to your success, but are you doing it with forethought and a solid strategy in place, or do you just “wing it?”

Admittedly, most of us are squarely in the winging it category, but there are some quick and easy changes you can make that will put even your most important networking tasks on autopilot.

Outsource the research: First step, hire a VA who can find and connect you with potential JV partners, affiliates, guest interviews, and all the other marketing options at your disposal.

With a list of requirements at hand, he or she can spend an hour or two on Google and bring back a list of hundreds of people you can then reach out to. What would a list of 100—or even 10—new JV partners do for your business growth?

Automate the initial connection: Create a script or email template to use when you first reach out to potential partners. Your VA can send this in an email or make a call on your behalf, but having the s…

Common Work-at-Home Positions You Can Apply For

Working at home sounds like a dream come true to most people. No tromping out in the cold weather, no need for business clothes, and perhaps a way to truly have integration of family life and work without being fired. But, what sorts of positions can you find that you can do at home? Inbound Call Center Agent An inbound call center agent takes calls using their home phone and computer system from the comfort of their home office (or kitchen table), taking orders for products and services. For example, you may work on a project for well-known home shopping networks or food chain establishments. You’ll be trained, and have practice calls before you get started. You will make between $8 and $20 dollars per hour from home doing this. Some positions are independent contracting and some are full-fledged employees. Outbound Call Center Agent An outbound call center agent makes outbound calls to a list of leads given to them by the company they work with. They will try to sell some…

5 Ways to Stay Motivated in Business

If you own your own business or are an entrepreneur, you can often be faced with challenges that strike down your motivation to go on. But here are a few ways you can reign in the troops and find the gumption to keep going.

Define your core values. Core values encapsulated in a mission statement will guide your company through times good and bad by helping you find direction and bringing you through turbulent times. “Making money” is not a goal that’s sure to keep you motivated when clients aren’t coming, but “delivering sustainable sources of energy” or something similarly specific will help you stay motivated towards a goal that forms the bigger picture.Take a look at the checkpoints. There may be a gap between your desired results and the actual results of what’s happened so far because your goal is monolithic and too far into the future. Take a look at smaller components to get a more accurate picture of how things are progressing, which will also bolster your mo…

Home Business or Work-at-Home Job – Which Is Right for You?

Many people often want to work from home for a variety of reasons. Maybe you just had a child and want more work-life balance, or perhaps you have an illness that makes it difficult for you to get out of the house. Or maybe you just like being home and want the freedom to work your own way. Whatever the reasons you want to work at home, you’ll need to choose whether or not you want a job from home, or you want a business from home. Here are eight questions to help you decide. 1. Are You Self-Motivated? If you want your own business so that you can set your own hours, you will need to be very self-motivated. You’ll need to take time out of your day for marketing, interviewing clients, closing the deal and then doing the work too. You’ll be 100 percent responsible for delivering the work, billing and collecting. You’ll even be responsible for deciding the methods you’ll use to do the work. To do that you’ll need to be a very self-motivated individual. 2. What Skills Do You Ha…

How Your Diet Will Influence Your Business Success

Let’s talk about the food you eat and how that has an impact on how you feel, how healthy you are, and finally how productive you end up being throughout your busy day. In turn, this will help you become more successful at your job or in your business. In other words, the topic today is how your diet can influence your business success.

When you think about improving your productivity and your bottom line, cleaning up your diet isn’t usually the first strategy you would consider implementing. The changes the food we eat make on a day to day basis are subtle and easy to miss.

It is a little easier to see when food affects us badly. Think back to the last time you had a big lunch of pasta and felt like taking a nap after your meal. In this case, the food you ate made a big difference in how much you got done that day. Choosing a healthy light lunch would have served you much better.

While the food you eat has small daily effects that …

Doing Your Best Work Every Day – Here are 5 Tips

No two workdays are the same, most of the time. There are many days where merely showing up to work seems like that is the best you’ll do. Showing up and doing your best work on the daily is what will ultimately set you apart and make you feel like a more productive member of the organization.

Set Clear Milestones

You have a project to complete. Instead of working endlessly toward that one end goal, set mini-goals or milestones for yourself. If you can meet a milestone every or every other day, it will be easier to keep your head up and pushing forward with the same vigor as day one.

Prioritize and Plan

Many jobs include prioritizing work tasks. Take time at the beginning and end of every day to look at what you have done and what you need to do. Prioritizing and planning your workday (or the next one) will allow you to move seamlessly through your day without losing focus.

Conquer Difficult Tasks First

That one task you are really dre…

Getting organized is the key to Efficiency, Effectiveness and Economic Success

Women Who Work From Home Know that Being Organized is the Key to Success

If you want both your business and your home life to flourish, it is important to get organized. Creating some simple organizational steps can keep you from being swamped with work and overwhelmed with laundry in no time.

ESTABLISH GROUND RULES WITH YOUR FAMILY

Tell your family and friends your work hours and your criteria for availability during those hours. You can create a sign for your office door that indicates you are working and when you are available. When I am deeply entrenched in work, I leave the door slightly ajar when my family is home. That is their sign not to disturb me until that door is fully open.

ESTABLISH BUSINESS HOURS

Setting up specific working times during each day has many benefits. First, you’ll be more consistent with your work. Once you’ve gotten used to starting and stopping …

Five Strategies to Quickly Get More Clients

More clients means more money, right? It also means more awareness and rapid company growth. However, it can be a challenge to ramp up your client list quickly. It takes a solid strategy and a proven plan. Here are five smart strategies to get more clients fast. #1 Partners! Partnerships can help you double your list overnight. Multiply your list and you multiply the number of opportunities you have to turn prospects into customers. And there are a number of ways you can make a partnership work for you. For example, you could promote a partner’s e-book or product on your website in exchange for them promoting your e-book, product or service on theirs. You could swap reviews or even exchange advertisements. However, one of the best ways to optimize a partnership is to cross-promote each other’s opt-in list and free giveaway. Then, when people sign up, you have permission to communicate and market to them. Have a product promotion ready to go and really capitalize o…

What Is Brand, Anyway? The Seven Layers of Brand and How They Fuel Your Business

Excerpted from Forging an Ironclad Brand: A Leader's Guide We all use the word "brand" as though everyone else's understanding of it were the same as ours. Yet chances are it's not, says Lindsay Pedersen, author of Forging an Ironclad Brand. "Logo is part of brand," she says. "TV and social media are parts of brand. Naming is part of brand. So are your product, your customer experience, and your SEO tactics. So are your font, your tagline, your business's personality, and the color of your employee uniforms. But none of those are, by themselves, brand." To make smart decisions around shaping and communicating your brand strategy, it's important to understand all the aspects. In her book, Pedersen identifies seven layers of brand: Brand Is What You Stand For. It's what you mean to your customer. It's the place you occupy in his or her mind. Everything your business does either reinforces your meaning, solidifying and growing its place in the customer's mind—or it we…

Passive Income – How to Make Money Without Lifting a Finger

A lot of people don’t realize it, but there is a huge difference between passive and non-passive income. With non-passive income, the second you stop working, the money stops coming in. With passive, you can do whatever you want and the money keeps on coming. [bctt tweet="Most people have the “job mentality.” In other words, they believe you always have to work to make money." via="no"] Nothing could be further from the truth. Money is only half the equation. The other half is time. Somebody who is makes one hundred dollars a year and works eighty hours a week is much less powerful than someone who makes the same amount but only works four hours a week. This is because the second person has far more time to be able to spend their money. So passive income should be the goal. This will free up your so you can spend it living your dreams, instead of doing mandatory income-producing work. What’s the best passive income strategy? There are a number that work. Here are th…

3 Reasons Online Marketplaces Help Small Businesses Choose Health Insurance

By Sally Poblete, CEO of Wellthie

Providing your employees with insurance coverage is one of the best ways for small business owners to support their employees. Employees with health insurance are happier, far more productive in the office, and are more likely to stay at a company if they are satisfied with their current benefits. In this digital age, online benefits marketplaces render finding employee insurance for your employees as modern and straightforward as searching for and buying other high ticket items such as automobiles or homes. There are resources at your disposal should you have any questions throughout the insurance shopping and purchasing process. Below are three reasons online marketplaces help small business owners choose health insurance:

Your Convenience

As a small business owner, you are exceedingly busy and your time is valuable. In a recent Vistaprint survey, small business owners reporte…